Biko app developer Emilio Pombo with friends Mark Mensing and Rhian Atkins in Vancouver. He is relocating his app that rewards cyclists from Latin America to VancouverPhoto by
Arlen Redekop

Emilio Pombo is from Bogota, Colombia. He is a man of remarkable numbers.

For example, he tells me that users of his mobile cycling app Biko have burned, to date, 60 million calories. I tell him that, in Canada, we know that as two poutine and a milkshake.

Biko launched in Pombo's home town not many months ago. Next came the Colombian city of Medellin and then, most recently, Mexico City.

It seems the app has been a screaming success at each stop. That's easy to understand once you know how it works.

Biko essentially pays its users to cycle. You download the app to your mobile device, then every time you get on your bike you earn "Bikos" — one for every kilometre you peddle.

In turn, Bikos can be redeemed for rewards. The rewards are accumulated through partnerships with local businesses and charities. Something like Starbucks would be a natural. Thirty-five Bikos might bag you a latte, for example.

Biko also has all sorts of interesting functionality. It maps the route you travelled, measures your average speed, calculates the CO2 emissions you saved by staying out of your car, guides you to safe cycling routes, finds parking, designates repair shops ... It's only a matter of time before it babysits and does laundry.

Earlier this year, Pombo and his Colombian partners started looking for a pilot city to launch the app outside Latin America. They also had in mind a relocation for the company.

"We knew this was a global idea and we needed deeper technological talent than what we could get in Bogata," Pombo told me last week.

San Francisco, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and New York were some of the cities considered for relocation. When the suggestion of Vancouver was raised, Pombo told his partners he'd "take one for the team" and scout us out.

He laughs about that now. In his mind, Vancouver is perfect.

We will be the pilot city: Biko head office will be moving here. Good for us.

As mentioned, Pombo is a bit of a numbers man. Here are a few others to consider:

• Biko users have taken more than 700,000 rides to date;

• More than five million Bikos have been earned;

• Kilometres travelled equal 250 circumnavigations of the planet;

• And, on the subject of the planet, Biko has spared us all more than 600 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The first point of contact for Pombo in Vancouver was a man named Mark Mensing, president and CEO of Canada Export Centre.

"The thing about Emilio is that he's not all that concerned about monetizing at this point," says Mensing. "He genuinely is most concerned with changing the world."

Usually when I hear the phrase "changing the world," the cynic in me goes straight to "huckster." But I have to tell you, I don't think there's a particle of huckster DNA in the man. I think he actually wants to change the world.

"Most Latin American cities are choked with traffic," Pombo says. "It's getting worse every day. We have to change this. The revolution of cycling is in a skyrocketing situation right now and is being led mostly by Millennials. We simply need to get more people on more bikes in more cities."

Nobility aside, the app still has to eventually make money. As per usual, it seems the gold is in the data, the backend stuff. Being able to tell urban planners in a meaningful way precisely when and where cyclists are travelling is worth a lot of something these days.

"We did this experiment with the mayor of Bogata when he was launching a new bike lane on a principal street in the city," Pombo says. "Based on our heat mapping, we were able to validate the decision as a good one within a few weeks."

Sound familiar?

Vancouver cyclists can download the app now for the basics, such as mapping. The reward component is expected to be available by the end of summer.

So far, the response to Biko from potential partners has been overwhelmingly positive — kind of like the sanguine Pombo himself.

"This is going to be an amazing city to start our expansion into North America," he says.

The annual 10-day event attracts thousands of people — riders and fans — to the mountain resort

Vancouver Flyers

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